Austria's Roman Empire Past: A Historical Overview

Austria was part of the Roman Empire from around 15 BC, when the territory of present-day Austria was annexed and became known as Austria Romana. The territory was roughly equivalent to the Roman province of Noricum, with the western and eastern extremities falling within the Roman provinces of Raetia and Pannonia.

The Romans built many Austrian cities that survive today, including Vindobona (Vienna), Juvavum (Salzburg), Valdidena (Innsbruck), and Brigantium (Bregenz).

Austria was part of the Roman province of Noricum, annexed around 15 BC

The area of modern-day Austria was settled by the Celts in the second century BC, who established a state called Noricum. In the first century BC, the Romans arrived and annexed the region, which became the Roman province of Noricum around 15 BC. The Romans dominated the area until the mid-500s, when the Bavarians, a Germanic people, took control.

In the 9th century, the Frankish Empire, established by the Germanic Franks, conquered the Bavarians. In 996, the region became a margravate of the Duchy of Bavaria, and was known as Ostarrichi, a clear forerunner of the modern German word Österreich. In 1156, the region became an independent duchy of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Roman settlement of Carnuntum became the centre of the Roman fortifications along the Danube

Carnuntum, a Roman legionary camp and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD, was the most important ancient Roman camp of the upper Danube frontier. It was situated at Petronell, 20 miles (32 km) east of Vienna.

Carnuntum was first used by the Romans during the reign of Augustus (6 AD), when Tiberius made it his base of operations in campaigns against Maroboduus (Marbod). It was selected as the garrison of the Legio XV Apollinaris before 14 AD, and a few years later, it became the centre of the Roman fortifications along the Danube from Vindobona (now Vienna) to Brigetio (Ó-Szőny).

The fortifications were built to protect the losers of a dispute between Germanic tribes (the Quadi and Marcomanni) and to deter the victors from the temptation to invade Pannonia. The fortifications included an auxiliary castrum of a cavalry ala 1.5 km south-west of the legionary fortress.

Carnuntum was the capital of the Pannonia Superior province and became a large city of approximately 50,000 inhabitants. It was also a major trading centre for amber, brought from the north and sold in Italy.

The remains of Carnuntum are situated on the Danube in Lower Austria and are now part of the Carnuntum Archaeological Park.

The Bavarians occupied the lands south of the Danube in the 6th century

The Bavarians, or Bavarii, were a Germanic people who occupied the lands south of the Danube in the 6th century. They are first mentioned in the mid-6th century in the foothills north of the Alps, on both sides of the Danube. The early 6th-century biography of Severinus of Noricum describes the region without mentioning them.

The Bavarians were closely related to the Lombards, who were developing as a force to the east of them. Their legal system shows heavy Roman influence, and their unification appears to have been under a Duke installed by the Franks. The Danubian frontier between the Roman Empire and "Germania" had, by this time, become a region where older populations had been added to significantly by generations of Roman border troops, Germanic clients, and then various "barbarian" peoples from outside the empire.

The Bavarians' name indicates a connection to the Bohemian Forest area, which had been the territory of the Boii during antiquity. The name is Latinized from the ethnonym *Bajōwarjōz, meaning "citizens of Bohemia" from Proto-Germanic *Bajōhaimaz (Boiohaemum, Bohemia), meaning "Boii home". The name is first attested in Latin sources in the 6th century AD.

The Bavarians' language is classified as Germanic. It is uncertain whether they originally spoke an East Germanic or West Germanic language. Early evidence regarding the language of the Bavarians is limited to personal names and a few Runic inscriptions. By the 8th century AD, the Bavarians were speakers of an early form of the Austro-Bavarian language within the West Germanic family.

The Bavarians were first mentioned in the Frankish Table of Nations from about 520, which describes them as a people with kinship to the Burgundians, Thuringians, and Lombards. In a poem about a pilgrimage to Augsburg in 565, Venantius Fortunatus mentions the land Baioaria on the river Lech, which flows north from the Austrian Alps to the German Danube. They were between the Allemanni on the Danube and the Breuni who were based near the river Inn.

The Bavarians occupied the western alpine parts of present-day western Austria. Those lands that were occupied by the Bavarians extended south to later-known South Tyrol, and east to the Enns. The administrative center was at Regensburg. Those groups mixed with the Rhaeto-Romanic population and pushed it up into the mountains along the Puster Valley.

Charlemagne established the territory of Ostmark in the Danube valley in the 9th century

The Carolingian Empire is sometimes considered the first phase in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The territory of Ostarrîchi (Austria) has been in use since 996 AD when it was a margravate of the Duchy of Bavaria and from 1156 an independent duchy (later archduchy) of the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806).

The first use of the name 'Austria' was in 996

The first use of the name Austria was in 996, when it was written as Ostarrîchi, referring to the territory of the Babenberg March. The name Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. At the time, the Danube basin of Austria (Upper and Lower Austria) was the easternmost extent of Bavaria.

Frequently asked questions